E-commerce report says Kiwis spend $3.6 billion a year
One and a half million New Zealanders shopped online in 2017, contributing $3.6 billion to a global industry that is growing far faster than its real world counterpart. E-commerce, it seems, is big business.
That's according to a report put out by NZPost called, "The Full Download" which aims to provide, "a deep and forensic analysis into the state of eCommerce in New Zealand".
Online shopping in New Zealand is somewhat different to the rest of the world, says the report. The amount we spend online has increased by 13% since the previous year, but the number of transactions has jumped a remarkable 23% year on year.
That's despite the survey excluding items such as transport, lottery tickets, cafes, restaurants and bars and online content providers, such as Netflix.
The good news for local retailers is that we spend around two thirds of our online money with local providers. The bad news is, international spending has increased by 23% with the number of transactions with international providers jumping 37%. This is despite the introduction of the so-called "Netflix tax" which targets GST on items of lesser value and is aimed at capturing tax from more online purchases.
Four out of every ten Kiwis describe themselves as "regular" online shoppers.
Interestingly, the survey also says that internet use from mobile devices has passed that of fixed-line devices in the past year. It quotes a report from statista.com claiming 51.2% of global web traffic now originates from a mobile device, crossing the half way mark sometime in the past 12 months.
As New Zealand retailers struggle to hold their own against the international market, it is interesting to ask how many of them have a mobile-first e-commerce solution.
The full report can be downloaded here, at no cost (aside from some demographic information).
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